Xingtong Shipping readies Shanghai IPO

Chinese chemical tanker player Xingtong Shipping will invest much of the proceeds from an upcoming IPO on expanding its fleet size.

The company is readying a February 22 listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

At present the company has a 16-strong fleet made up of chemical tankers predominantly with one LPG carrier, according to data from VesselsValue.

Chen Xingming, the founder of Fujian Xingtong Shipping, grew up in a small village near Quanzhou in the southeast of China. He started working on fishing boats when he was a teenager. In the early 1990s when a port development project started in Quanzhou, Chen earned his first pot of gold by investing in a few workboats to join the construction craze.

He established Fujian Xingtong Shipping in 1997 and gained approval to operate petrochemical shipping at domestic coastal ports and major river ports.